A Tinkering Drill
by Anonymuss45
Summary: Todoroki Shouto met an old digger a total of three times, and each time was different from the last. The first was spiked with adrenaline and worry. The second was a calming, yet fearful experience. And the third?


**A Tinkering Drill**

 _ **Spoilers for My Hero Academia and Gurren Lagann. I own nothing regarding either of these.**_

On the weekends, Todoroki Shouto went to visit his mother in the hospital. Ever since the Sports Festival, he had done this without fail. Even now, when all of the students had their own dorms, he chose to spend his Saturdays with his mother instead of with his friends.

He didn't regret doing this, however. He was glad that he had the chance to speak with his mother, glad to spend his time with her. He needed to make up for many years of lost time.

The journey there was, normally, pretty uneventful. He would take a few trains, avoid eye contact, and get recognized by someone. They would always ask annoying questions- all of them about his father. Then, when he refused to answer or gave them a small, practiced response that said nothing, they would go away.

Unfortunately for him, today wasn't so uneventful.

Todoroki needed to take a short walk between each train. Musutafu was a big city, with multiple metros. He couldn't ask his sister to drive him, he couldn't drive himself, and he doubted that his father would even consider taking time away from work. He didn't have another option. This meant that he would spend about twenty minutes of the half an hour trip on foot.

This was the first time that a villain had decided to rob a store while he was passing by.

It was honestly a coincidence that he even noticed it. He was walking by a nice cafe that he had passed every day. His eyes were almost glazed and his thoughts elsewhere, but his eyes just happened to wander and notice something amiss.

The entire cafe was still, for the first part. This wasn't normal. There was always someone moving around, someone doing _something_.

Not a person was moving in the cafe, and almost everyone seemed to be shaking or they had a pale face. This second part was what made him look twice.

With his eyes darting around through the cafe, he realized exactly what was going on.

The only person standing, aside from the cashiers, was a tall man with beady red eyes. Everyone else was in a seat, and some even seemed crammed. There were multiple tables without anything in front of them, and yet the employees weren't moving an inch.

What finally cemented it for Todoroki was when he made eye contact with the standing man.

He had been saying something to the employees while still looking around warily. When the two made eye contact, something familiar ran down Todoroki's spine.

It was similar to that time when he had fought the Hero Killer, just on a much smaller scale. It was something in his eyes, a challenge. A challenge to open the door, a challenge to fight.

The small bulge in the man's jacket, on this perfectly warm day, told Todoroki what the man thought of that.

Todoroki analysed all of this in seconds. He was fully prepared to step in and help. In fact, he was almost about to do so.

But one thing, one glaring weakness, was what stopped him.

 _I can't do anything without a provisional license. It would be best if I wasn't viewed as a vigilante._

 _Who can I call? Midoriya should be- No, they all went on that shopping trip. Damn. Who's left?_

 _Bakugo wouldn't lift a finger to help, and I don't know if anyone else who didn't go would be suitable enough to take this guy down, and I don't have the phone numbers of any of the teachers._

 _I'll just have to ask my old man for permission. If I do it beforehand, there shouldn't be a problem._

Todoroki broke his brief eye contact with the man in the store, and he passed by the windows, instantly pulling out his phone.

His finger was just over the 'call' button on his father's number when he heard the doorbell for the cafe chime.

Eyes widening, Todoroki whirled around, only to see someone in a raggedy cape with a hood enter. He was also holding some sort of staff-like object. He couldn't quite tell what it was from the brief time that he had seen it.

 _Damn...He might get hurt. He looks homeless, too...Focus, Shouto!_

Todoroki pulled his phone up to his ear, pressing the call button. This was the most reliable way to get permission; god knows that his father didn't text.

The line rang once, twice, three times…

Todoroki watched anxiously, peering through the side of the window as the man entered the store. He couldn't hear what was going on, but the robber seemed to be getting agitated.

 _Don't make him angry, don't make him angry…_

His father's voicemail started to play, and Todoroki internally cursed his luck. As quickly and quietly as he could manage, he said his intentions before finally clicking off of the call.

Without wasting another second, he casually walked back to the door and opened it slowly, a sheet of frost covering the door and snaking upwards towards the bell, freezing it into place. As he stealthily entered, he could hear the conversation between the two men

"...What? I can't hear you when you're mumbling, old man." The robber was saying, a wrinkle forming in his face from the rage that was starting to show. It was a look that he had become very, very accustomed to.

"Geez, kids these days. So rude." The homeless- _the citizen_ said, shaking his head.

"You calling me a kid, punk? I'll end you right now!" The robber spat, eyes blazing. Literally. His eyes were on fire. It was most likely the robber's Quirk.

Todoroki spared a quick glance at the people in the cafe, all of which were trying their hardest not to look at him, but were sending him sideways glances.

Those eyes...they were full of despair and fear. They were worried. All of them thought that they were going to die. It was his job to help them.

Todoroki moved slowly and low to the ground so as to not alert the robber, although he could have probably been sprinting and he wouldn't have noticed, what with how enraged the man was.

Todoroki's right hand hit the floor, just as the man shouted, "You're calling me a punk? Who the hell do you think I am!"

The gun emerged from the robber's jacket, and it was pointed in the man's face. A split second went by, and in the brief silence after the man's proclamation, a gunshot was let loose.

Silence reigned as the old man stumbled backwards slightly, letting out a short breath.

Todoroki did much the same, with the only difference being that his was made of frigid air.

From his neck to his toes, the robber was completely encased in ice, and Todoroki let out a larger breath to quell his jittering nerves as he activated his fire side. If he had been a millisecond too late…

The older man turned to Todoroki, keeping his eyes obscured beneath his hood.

"Thanks for the help there. I was a bit worried." He said with a friendly smile.

"You...YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! LET ME OUT OF THIS RIGHT NOW!" The robber shouted, shaking his neck in a vain attempt to break through the bonds of ice that held him captive.

With the robber's shout, the spell that seemed to be held over the cafe broke, and many people seemed to almost collapse into themselves, hugging each other.

"...You should have been more careful. If I hadn't have been there, you would be dead." Todoroki said, completely ignoring the robber, who was still raging.

"Ah, sorry. I just saw what you were doing, and figured that you were a hero." The man said jovially, and Todoroki held back a sigh. There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong with that mentality, but he didn't have it in him to point them out right now.

Without warning, the robber's voice rang throughout the cafe once more.

"You think...that this ice...can hold me? MY EYES AREN'T THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN-" The robber shouted, only to be cut off as the old man hit him, roughly, over the head with the staff.

"You know, we're probably not allowed to do that." Todoroki remarked idly as he watched the man slump.

Now that he had the chance, he took an actual look at the man.

 _Definitely homeless._

He had blue hair, from what he could tell. It seemed to be turning gray, ever so slightly. The man was wearing that robe, even in the heat. To give him some credit, he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath and it was open, which didn't speak good things about his public image. The pants that he was wearing were almost as raggedy as the man- aside from his clothes, his hands were heavily calloused, and there were multiple, if small, scars littering his body. Aside from that, he had a staff with what appeared to be a _drill_ on it.

"Sticking to all the rules has always made me uncomfortable." The man replied, beginning to walk forward at a slow pace, his staff clinking against the ground.

"Old man. Who are you?" Todoroki asked before he could stop himself, just as the man passed.

There was something about the old man, something that Todoroki couldn't quite pin down. He seemed like he had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and walked away from it permanently changed.

The old man stopped, and the clamour of the cafe suddenly increased as people rushed forward to thank their saviour, some attempting to even hug Todoroki. In all of the commotion, he almost missed the old man's response.

"Me? I'm no one...but you still have the chance to become someone. I'm just a digger."

The old man left the cafe, and that would be the last that Todoroki saw of the old man for a while.

The next time Todoroki saw the old digger, it was two months later and in a much more peaceful setting.

He was in the library after a school day. The dorms had started to feel somewhat suffocating as of recent, and if he stayed, then he would probably get bothered by Midoriya or someone else to go do something. What he needed to do was study, which meant that he needed somewhere peaceful.

Life itself seemed to be against Todoroki, however. He would always be bothered by someone that he knew.

He had been about halfway through reviewing his notes when the squeaking started.

He tried to ignore it for a while. Really, he did. He tried his hardest.

After fifteen minutes of the squeaking, Todoroki cast his eyes up, irritated. He didn't really know who he expected to see, probably some restless kid, but the very last person on his list was the old digger from before.

The irritation all but vanished, only to be replaced by an intense curiosity.

He had never expected to see the old man again. _At all_. And yet, something still seemed off about the man. This time, it was more physical than anything else.

The man had barely changed in the two months since they had last talked. He still seemed to have that imposing figure, although he was dressed a bit more modestly this time (his cloak was closed). He didn't have any clear signs of starvation. In fact, he looked as though he had been holding a healthy diet, if his face was any indication. He also seemed freshly shaven.

...Maybe he was _wrong_ about him being homeless.

As though noticing his intense glare, the digger looked up, still not quite meeting Todoroki's eyes. Something in his countenance seemed to change when he noticed him, however. He visibly brightened, and he immediately stood up and started ambling towards Todoroki.

 _Please, god, no. You don't have to- damn it._

"Hey, long time no see! It's been a while, huh?" The digger asked, his tone light.

"...Indeed. You look well." Todoroki commented blandly.

"Thanks. Hey, did everything turn out okay after I left?" The man asked, gruff tone tinged with a hint of worry.

"Yes. Because of the situation, and the fact that he had fired a shot, I didn't get into trouble." Todoroki responded, looking back down at his notes.

The digger's eyes must have followed his own, because after a small moment, he let out a small laugh. "Math, huh? That was always more of Leeron's thing." He said that last part under his breath, but since the library was almost dead silent, he heard it.

"Leeron?" Todoroki asked, almost subconsciously. He did it mainly to not be rude.

"An old friend of mine." The digger responded, leaning back in the chair.

Todoroki enjoyed about ten seconds of blissful silence before the squeaking started again.

Todoroki looked up again, fully prepared to ask a question, but the words died in his throat when he saw exactly what was making the noise.

It was a small...hamster? Mole? Whatever it was, it was tiny and it had sunglasses on.

It stared at Todoroki for almost ten seconds before making a small squeak and retreating into the diggers' hood.

Without saying a word, Todoroki looked back down at his notes, resolving to wipe the incident from his memory permanently.

The old digger read his own book, whatever it was, and Todoroki continued to look at his own notes.

This lasted for half an hour.

While his concentration had been interrupted, it was easy for Todoroki to get focused again. This focus was broken, yet again, by someone walking up to the table.

"Todoroki, I've been looking for you!" A familiar voice said cheerfully, and Todoroki cast his eyes upwards at the new addition, mildly annoyed.

The annoyance dried out the second that he realized who it was. Looking up at the familiar girl with the black bun, he merely tilted his head at her, prompting her to continue.

"It's getting a bit late. No one had seen you after class, so we were a bit worried. I figured that you would be here." His classmate, Yaoyorozu Momo, said cheerfully, looking proud to have guessed correctly.

Todoroki pulled out his phone, checking the time, suppressing a wince at the numerous missed messages from Yaoyorozu. Had he really been here for three hours?

Yaoyorozu seemed to notice the second person at the table. "Oh, is this a friend of yours, Todoroki?" She asked, sounding just slightly confused.

Before Todoroki could respond, the old digger spoke up.

"No, no, he's just a hero who helped me out a little bit ago. I saw him here, so I decided to sit next to him." The digger said, his voice practically oozing cheerfulness.

The digger looked directly at Yaoyorozu, and he could have sworn that she froze up, if only for a millisecond.

"Say, I think I saw you at the sports festival. Are you the hero who can create things from your body?" The digger asked, and there was a new quality to his voice that Todoroki didn't recognize. So far, he had been completely polite and cordial, even cheerful.

His tone of voice spoke of danger now.

"...I am. Why do you ask?" Yaoyorozu responded, muscles as tense as Todoroki's.

Something in the back of Todoroki's head told him that this wasn't a good situation to be in. Instinctually, he shifted just a bit closer to Yaoyorozu. His ice would be a good shield for the two of them, but if this guy was a digger…

"That's a strong power. Make sure that you use it carefully. Being overzealous with it can lead to danger." The digger said, breaking eye contact with Yaoyorozu to look down into his lap, slumping.

The sense of danger slowly ebbed away, and, carefully, Todoroki gathered his belongings, stowing them into his backpack without a word. Yaoyorozu didn't make a move until he did, but when they finally left the old digger's line of sight, she let out a wary breath.

"That guy...I don't know anything about him. He has a sort of weight behind him that feels familiar." Todoroki said as they walked out of the library.

Walking ever so slightly closer to him and whispering, Yaoyorozu responded. "The way that he carries himself is similar to that of All For One." She said, looking anywhere but at him.

Todoroki was silent for a long moment. "You think that he's a villain?" He asked, just as low.

"No...it's more of a time-weary posture. His basic posture, his face... _his eyes_. Have you seen his eyes?" Yaoyorozu asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"No, I haven't. I thought it was strange, but I didn't question it." Todoroki responded, looking at Yaoyorozu with concern.

"They were indescribable. I can't describe exactly what I saw, but it looked almost like a galaxy." Yaoyorozu said with a small shiver, leading Todoroki's mind to wander.

A galaxy in his eyes...Just what was that old digger hiding?

The third and final time that Todoroki met the old digger was a few days before summer break, and it was a significantly more sombre experience than the previous two.

He had seen the man's cloak from afar as he had walked to visit his mother. It had sparked a flash of recognition, and, almost unbidden, his feet started to walk him down the path that the old digger went down.

Todoroki ended up following the old digger for over twenty minutes, all the while thinking, _Just where is he going, and why am I following him?_

Each and every one of his experiences with the old man had been memorable. The first was spiked with adrenaline, yet confidence. The second was calming, but fearful. The third? Well, he would just have to see.

The digger stopped just at the outskirts of the city, where the buildings stopped and nature began. Todoroki pulled to a stop some five paces behind him, and looked around the area.

The scenery was picture-perfect. The pair were beneath a hill, completely covered with white flowers that he couldn't quite identify (Yaoyorozu would know them, he thought to himself). On top of the hill was a tree, and just beneath it was a small stone, whittled to perfection. All of this was set to the backdrop of the setting sun, leaving an almost painted orange background.

The digger's hood fell from his face, wild blue hair let out to feel the wind, and the staff that he was holding moved slightly as he turned to face Todoroki.

For the first time, he saw the digger's eyes, and he was reminded of Yaoyorozu's words.

In this old soul's eyes were a galaxy- almost literally. His eyes had no direct iris, but instead, a green spiral. There seemed to be small, orbiting specs of color in them, creating an image to remember.

A small reflection of light caught his eye, and Todoroki looked down.

Around the digger's neck was a necklace with a ring on it, with a matching one on his finger.

Todoroki connected the dots, and his breath hitched.

The old digger suddenly spoke. He didn't ask any questions, he didn't throw out any accusations, or even say hello.

He simply said, "My name is Simon. Simon the Digger. Who are you?"

Todoroki almost responded as he always did- _Todoroki Shouto._ But set against this scenery, looking at this man, seeing the vast expanse of sadness dancing across his face, he realized that that wasn't quite what the man was looking for.

"I'm no one, I suppose." He said earnestly, earning a small chuckle from Simon.

"Well said." Simon was quiet, turning around to look at the stone- _grave_ , he had to remind himself, at the top of the hill.

Simon made a small gesture with his hand, and Todoroki calmly walked up towards him, looking at the beauty that the hill contained.

Slowly, Simon sat down, letting out a small sigh. Todoroki joined him after a small moment, noting how warm the ground seemed to be in this area.

"Would you like to hear a story?" Simon asked quietly, after a long moment of silence.

It didn't quite feel right to ruin the comfortable silence of the area with words, but Todoroki nodded anyways, allowing the older man to continue.

And so, Simon told a story. It was a story of a man who grabbed hold of his fate, who twisted the tomorrow that others had decided for him into his own shape. It was a story of burning souls and weeping hearts. And yet, at the same time, it was a story about determination and all of the good and bad that came with it. It was a story about everything, yet nothing, and yet Todoroki clung to every word. It was impossibly true, speaking of robots the size of the universe fighting in a clash to decide the fate of the universe.

The story was completely unbelievable, and yet Todoroki could not find it in him to believe the old man's words to be false.

By the end of the story, a longing look had entered Simon's eyes, and yet, it seemed to be replaced by a smile in moments.

The old man merely looked at his younger with something akin to sadness, yet hope, and Todoroki knew instantly that the story was about Simon.

"Why...why would you tell me all this?" Todoroki asked when Simon had finished. He was genuinely confused; what gain could he have gotten from telling Todoroki? Was it merely emotional, a weight off of his chest? Or was it something else?

Simon chuckled lowly, which soon devolved into coughing. This continued for a short time, in which Todoroki looked at the man with pity.

Someone like him...he shouldn't be in this state. He should be living better than a homeless man, better than someone who drifted by, day to day.

"Don't feel pity for me." Simon said gruffly, as though reading Todoroki's mind. His eyes widened.

"It's better this way. Those who play god...that only leads to pain. To become god is the loneliest achievement of them all." Simon said, and never before in his life had Todoroki _truly understood_ the meaning behind someone's words.

This was a man who had the option to bring those he loved back from the grave, and yet he chose not to. He chose to live the life that he did, knowing that all the while he could feel happiness, even _joy_. He cast aside his own happiness so that others could live.

It sounded so similar to something that Midoriya would do that it was almost funny.

"If you want to help me, then don't feel pity for me. The only thing that I ask of you is that you plant flowers." Simon said, looking off into the distance.

The sun had now almost fully set, and the flowers were beginning to light up as bugs of all different kinds settled in.

"Why flowers?" Todoroki asked, despite knowing the answer.

SImon was quiet for a long moment. "She wanted to make the world beautiful. She saw beauty in everything. I want to preserve that beauty." Simon said, almost striking Todoroki in the metaphorical gut of his feelings.

"I'll be here for quite a while." Simon said as the conversation lulled to a stop.

When Todoroki made no move to get up, he continued. "You have others that are worried about you. Your friends, your parents. Don't waste your time with them to hang around here, kid. You only have so much of it, after all." Simon said, almost urging him to leave him.

When Todoroki looked at Simon for one last time, a small tear was trailing down the old digger's left cheek.

He stood up, walked away with a short farewell, and didn't look back.

Todoroki slid open the door to his mother's room in the mental institution, making sure to not drop what he had in his hands.

At the noise, his mother turned from where she sat at the window, and her face lit up, like it always did when she saw him.

"Shouto! You made it! I was getting worried." His mother exclaimed, a look of happiness on her weary face that so mirrored the one that he had seen earlier on the old digger.

"Sorry. I got a bit held up." He replied earnestly. His mother looked down at what he held in his hands.

"Shouto, what are those?" She asked, somewhat confused.

Todoroki looked down at the pots, then back up at his mother with a smile. "They're flowers. They both came from the same plant, so I figured that if I got both of us one, then we would never really be apart." He said, and his mother made a strange sound. It wasn't something that he would be able to recreate.

"Are you okay? If you're choking, there's a specific spot in the neck that loosens-" Todoroki began to spout, panic taking over his thoughts.

"N-no, I'm just...happy." His mother said, and a small tear escaped her eyes.

Todoroki frowned. People didn't tend to cry when they were happy, but he would let it go. He was sure that she would tell him if he upset her.

"A-anyways, how has your day been, sweetie?" His mother asked, and slowly, things began to shift back to normalcy.

Todoroki was quiet for a moment. "I think I made a friend, but I don't think that I'll see him again." He said quietly, thinking back to the old digger.

"Oh, is that so? That's quite sad." His mother said sympathetically, rubbing his shoulder.

Todoroki was quiet as he mulled over his encounter once more.

"...You know, I don't think that it ended very sadly." Todoroki stated very matter-of-factly.

"What makes you say that?" His mother asked, a furrow in her brow.

"He wasn't the type of person to be easily forgotten. I think that he's going to keep on doing what he loves, and I'll do the same." Todoroki said with a spark of determination in his heart.

"He was the type of person to pierce the heavens. Now, I plan to reach them."

 **And that's a wrap for A Tinkering Drill! I've been wanting to do something like this for forever.**

 **Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed.**


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